A few weeks after we came home we went fishing! Greyson really wanted to go fishing I guess winter was too long for him. He has been doing quite a bit of fishing these days.
He got his first pet. Now I know most kids get a dog or a cat but around here we get cool pets. Yes each kid got their own fainting goat. Greyson's baby is Rowdy and Addison's is Gauge. They bottle fed them for months and now they are like little puppies. And yes they have fainted!
He took swimming lessons. He liked the water but I think he has done better since we stopped lessons. We even found out how small this world is when one of the little girls in his class is friends with a heart friend from Carolina!
We have taken trips to the park. We NEVER did this before because surgery since his oxygen levels were so low he didn't have the stamina to actually play on the playground. Yes Addison probably suffered life long trauma from not going to the park any earlier but it just wasn't fair to Greyson.
We would alternate between the park and the spray park but when the kid saw the beach right next to the spray park we were done with the park or spray park. Who wants to play in clean spraying water when you can get in a lake? Apparently my kids do not share my distrust of water I cannot see the bottom of. Don't get me wrong I get in the lakes but I am not near as comfortable with the unknown.
He got buried in the sand! With his new found energy post fontan he does not lay still very long. He wanted to lay in the sand and be buried but he sure did not have time to stay long before he was on to the next thing.
The bad! He had 2 bloody noses within a few weeks of each other. I was worried at first but then we figured it was just due to his new found energy. When they say "he is all boy" I did not realize all boy meant crazy all the time! Addison was so calm and thought things through. Greyson goes into everything head first sometimes getting hurt and other times shaking it off. You can tell from this bloody nose he had not been crying. From the look on his face I would guess sissy is the one crying in this encounter. LOL.
We took a trip to the zoo. Greyson liked the hippo's and was making fishy faces at the fish swimming around with them. I am surprised he didn't ask for his pole HA! Him and sissy posed for pictures. We went into the butterfly house. I am not sure why we have not been in there before. The kids loved looking at the bugs (securely in their cages of course) and then Greyson was having a blast chasing the butterflies around. *No butterflies were harmed in the making of this fun!*
One of the things Nate remembers from being a kid was their family camping trips in the summer. Many of his best memories happened on camping trips. It was definitely something we wanted to share with our kids and lets face it we can take lots of vacations and not spend a lot of money. One of the kids favorite things to do when we go camping is to feed the fish at the marina. Granted it would probably be cheaper for us to buy a bag of fish food and take our own they would probably frown upon that. So we spend multiple quarters a weekend feeding the carp that hang out at the docks.
Greyson is willing to take any chance to go out on the boat even if it is in the middle of nap time. That usually means he will pass out on a boat ride. Sometimes he sleeps for a good while as we troll around and crappie fish...other times it is a short 5 min nap across the lake to another fishing spot.
On of his BIG complaints on our first camping trip was that EVERY kid has a bike. We took Addison's bike and Greyson's electric jeep however the jeep was not cool enough for Greyson. He got very upset when everyone was riding their bikes and he did not have one. Now mind you no regular bike would would work for our future motocross star. He had to have the Yamaha dirt bike bicycle. Was that at any of the stores near us on camping? Absolutely not! We had to drive clear across town to get the bike when we got back. He is one SUPER happy little dude! He actually rides pretty good for not having it for very long.
Finally around the beginning of July we convinced daddy to put our pool up! I do not know what took him so long clearly these littles were super excited to get in. Oh yeah that water is fresh out of the hose freezing. Both of them were happy to get in there and play in the freezing water. Post fontan Awesomeness...Greyson's lips did not immediately turn purple. In fact, I kept waiting to see shivering purpleness and he just kept going. It brought tears to my eyes.
We also went bowling this summer. A first for both Addison and Greyson. They really enjoyed it even if it did take 2 hours for the ball to get down there. Their excitement while waiting for the ball to hit a few pens was very contagious. We did get them a ramp thing to roll their ball down and they ended up getting a lot more pens.
We went camping, again ;), a few weeks ago. He doesn't even need a push to get his bike going. He is quite the problem solver. He also enjoyed playing beanbag toss with daddy! We now had to make our own bean bag boards complete with their own beanbags in a material they each picked out. Guess what Greyon picked. Yup Motorcycles. Addison, being the princess she is got pick with silver tiaras on it.
Our county fair was this past week. We weren't going to go but there was a motorcycle race and daddy and Greyson wanted to go. What daddy didn't factor in was that we would have to walk past all the rides on our way to the motorcycle race. Did the kids want to ride? OF COURSE! So the next day we went back and let the kids ride the rides. We were a little upset considering there were only about 5 rides they could ride. The kids didn't seem to mind and got their money's worth on those few rides. Greyson was instantly drawn to the motorcycles...do you see a theme here? The boy loves motorcycles. His cardiologist is going to love the first time he shows him a trophy or video of his riding.
On our latest camping trip we got a little rain. Daddy and GJ were out in the boat on the water when this little drencher came in. They said it was like a wall of rain you could see it coming at you. Greyson was having fun playing in the sprinkle of rain but when this drenching rain came in do you think he headed inside? Heavens no! He was out in the rain getting soaked! He played in the rain for a good 20 minutes, which is about all it lasted, and then we got nice dry clothes on and had dinner by the fire and s'mores. Greyson thinks the best part of smores is the chocolate. Is this a huge waste? Yup but I don't care.
I know I was very stressed before Greyson's surgery and at times I think I may have let that stress out on my kids. Other parents say at times we all do but I don't want to do that anymore. Don't get me wrong I am not abusive to my kids or anything but I do get a little short with them and forget that they don't see the world the same as me. I am working on seeing things from their point of view and learning the world around us. I am working on staying calm and not hurrying everywhere. Someone on facebook shared a post on a mom who hurried her kids everywhere. She wanted to be places at a certain time and she was a stop and smell the roses kind of child and I have one of those for sure. Greyson would rather stop and check things out and gawk...sometimes at everything... than get where we are going. I work very hard to not spaz out about things like catching a cold playing in the rain and let him have fun playing in the rain. Did it mean more work for me undressing and redressing him in warm dry clothes? Absolutely but he had a great time and I felt like a much better mom and much less stressed by letting him do what he wanted when it didn't hurt anyone or anything. I will be striving to do more of this and I think we will all be happier even if it takes us 3 times as long to get things done. ;)
I would say I will try to post more often but lets face it summer is busy for us and we are camping like crazy so I can't make any more promises.
Also please keep Derrick in your thoughts as he gets ready for his Fontan. Lets hope he has as quick of a recovery as our little superhero did. Yes Greyson says his scar is where they put his superhero heart in! He is one tough little guy!
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